Paris Opera

We attended last night a Paris Opera new production of Benvenutto Cellini.  It was amazing. During the overture which the orchestra played magnificently the house lights went back up partway and colored spotlights raked across the audience.  Then giant puppets pranced down the aisles to the stage and colored confetti fell from the ceiling. And that was only the beginning. The music and voices were terrific.  I also counted a fire-eater, contortionist, many tumblers and acrobats and a women on a circular trapeze. It was a spectacle. I had heard about the production last month before we started our trip but the website said it was already sold out.  There was a little asterisk that said same day standing room tickets for five euros might be available. I tucked that information away and when we arrived in Paris decided to go for it. We got to the box office about fifteen minutes before it opened.  I expected long lines for the 32 tickets available but there were only about 15 people there. I wasn’t sure I could stand for three and a half hours but we both made it. I’m so glad we did. It was a truly memorable evening.

Sintra Portugal

Rising out of the mists like Brigadoon is the magical city of Sintra.  It lies about thirty miles outside of Lisbon, a short, easy train ride away.  A UNESCO heritage place it is easy to see why the kings and nobles over many centuries used it as a summer getaway.  Located in the foothills of the Sinta mountains to the west of Lisbon it is at a higher elevation than Lisbon and cooler in the summer.  We covered most of the town in a couple of hours of walking up and down very steep cobblestone streets.  There are lots of castles and castle-like houses and, of course, many, many little cafes, restaurants and the like.  We stopped at a little place and I had a great bean soup that in addition to the beans had pasta, many veggies, meat and sausage.  A very hearty dish.  

Lisbon

Olives and sardines and cod.  Lisbon perches on the edge of the sea sitting on rows of hills like a tiered wedding cake.  The medieval part of the city where we are staying is filled with monumental statues on monumental pedestals in monumental plazas.  The city is a tribute to the grandeur that was Portugal in the 1500-1800 hundreds.  The steep cobblestone narrow streets with cream, ochre and red buildings and red tiled roofs is as beautiful as maple syrup being poured on gelato.
We have again lucked out with a lovely apartment.  The city has terrific public transportation and one card takes you seamlessly from subway to bus to ferry boats.  Our apartment here is entirely self service.  We have not seen a staff member since we arrived.  Two days before coming we received an access code for the front door (which is a non-descript unmarked green door) and to our apartment.  Fortunately everything went well.  We found our way here from the airport on the Metro and easily walked to the building.  It's a great walking city only a bit crowded with tourists.  We took a ferry across the bay to get away from the crowds and found a nice regular neighborhood with a quiet commercial street to sit and have a snack and a drink.  I also discovered a beautiful roof top bar in the center city with great views and we may go for a drink later.
The Portugese language is a bit of challenge but Jim is using his Spanish to good effect.  I have learned a few words, please, thank you and excuse me and mostly just point.

Leaving Saville

This beautiful city is like a fairy tale.  But even fairy tales have another side.  We took a bus that traveled to the outskirts of the city, the place where the real people live.  It was not like a fairy tale but like any working class neighborhood.  There was a Costco and a Carrefour *the French supermarket ) and a big Renault plant, but as our taxi driver told us many of the kids, including hers had to go to Liverpool to find work.  There was a big park along the river that was lovely.  It was mostly deserted but I assume on the weekends it's used more.

On a more artistic note we came back into the center city and went to the Fine Arts Museum.  We had been there before but there was a new Murillo exhibit that was breathtaking.  The museum itself is lovely, built around a central courtyard with galleries leading off.  It's small but gem like. The Murillo's were massive religious painting that were done for a Capuchin Monastery.  There were about a dozen of them many at least twenty feet tall.  They were done in the sixteenth century and hung in the monastery.  But during the Napoleonic Wars they were captured and take to France.  They were returned to Seville  in the nineteenth century but had been pretty heavily damaged.  The museum had done a lot of restoration work and they looked beautiful.    One of the things I love about Murillo is that he used ordinary working people as his models, so the Virgen Mary looks like a serving girl.  

We had a lovely meal across the river from our place in Triana.  I was sad to leave.

Cadiz

In a land drenched in history Cadiz still stands out.  It may be the most historic city, or at least the oldest in Spain.  Founded over three thousand years ago by the Phoenicians it has layers and layers of the civilizations that have lived and conquered here. It lies about two hours by train from Seville and after a day of being nearly housebound by driving rain we decided to go there and explore.  The day started our a bit rainy but most of the rain had cleared by the time we arrived.  The center city still looks as it did in medieval times with narrow winding cobblestone streets hemmed in the four and five story housing constructed of stone.  After the Phoenicians the Romans came and in their typical fashion built huge structures.  One that was recently unearthed is a large amphitheater that looks like it could still be used for theatrical productions.  (See photo above,) It is still being restored.  Despite the narrowness of the streets, the town contains many expansive squares, most of which have monumental statues in the center and many trees, plants and benches to sit on so it is a visual feast and very relaxing.  There is, of course, a bar, restaurant or tapas place about every ten feet, many with outdoor tables.   We had a lovely lunch of tostas at a corner bar near the train station.

It is possible to walk from one end of town to the other in a few hours and we did so.  We did hop on a bus once.  The city is shaped like a small peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on three sides.  It lies on the southwestern corner of Spain, just beyond the straits of Gibraltar.  Looking westward over the ocean and seeing only the tempestuous tossing Atlantic and nothing on the horizon I was struck by the courage and adventurous spirit of the explorers who set out for the new world from here.  Even now, knowing that there is a continent on the other side of the water it is difficult to summon up the bravery it must have taken to set out in tiny wooden ships into that unknown water.

Raining In Seville

Into all travel some rain must fall and today it rained unrelentingly in Seville.   We woke up to rain and it never stopped all day.  The streets were empty, but the bars were full as people watched a soccer game on TV.  In an effort to stay dry we decided to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art which is housed in a beautiful old monastery.  Unfortunately we learned when we arrived the museum has no permanent collection and there was only one small exhibit by an Iraqi artist.  Although I wasn't crazy about the art there was one piece  I liked made up of hundreds of tiny tin soldiers that represented the various armies that have fought in the middle east.  (see photo above)

The museum was somewhat off the beaten path and there was no easy way to reach it by bus from our place but we were able to get a taxi at the taxi stand down the street.  Getting home was not as easy.  No cabs or Ubers anywhere nearby so we trekked out to the closest bus stop figuring we could at least get into the inner city where we could then transfer to a bus that ran to our neighborhood.   Fortunately, while were getting drenched at the bus stop a taxi came by and miraculously stopped for us.  Our only other foray was to our local grocery store to buy a few things to cook for dinner rather than trying to go out to a restaurant.  Nice to have an apartment with a well appointed kitchen so it's easy to do this. 

Seville

The air is perfumed with oranges, almonds and olives.  There is an undefinable but sensual odor of meats roasting, garlic and spicy sausage.  There are palm trees swaying.  We must be in Seville.  This is such a delightful city here in the heart of Andalusia.  Although it is a shadow of it's former self in the 1600's when it was the self defined most important city in Europe it is still proud of its history.  We have walked miles and miles through most of the old city and other parts also.  There Metro system here is not extensive, but the bus system is and is easy to use and get around.  We got passes that make it easy and inexpensive to get around.  There are safe bike paths all through the city.  Walking or biking are the easiest ways to get around as the narrow, winding streets are difficult for cars to navigate.

We walked by the magnificent  Moorish Alcazar and Gothic Cathedral where Christopher Columbus (or at least part of him) is buried.  Magellen sailed from here on his first circumnavigation of the world.  It is not on the ocean but is a river port.

We are renting a one bedroom apartment in the Triana area, the same area we stayed in last year.  It's a charming area, the old gypsy and Jewish quarter or the city and across the river from the main city and Cathedral.  It is filled with little cafes, restaurants and shops. It still looks like the medieval city it used to be.    There is a magnificent farmers market around the corner and I've been going there very morning to get fresh fruit and bread for breakfast.  This morning I purchased olives from a woman with a street cart.  (see photo above,)
We have orange trees outside our window.   Nothing here is more than two stories high.  Our apartment is one of five in a small building built around a central courtyard.

There is a myth that Hercules founded the city and it certainly seems like a city of the gods.

Posted by Jim Jaffe

Returning to Spain is predictably pleasant, a reminder of the comfortable ignorance that comes with visiting a country smart enough to welcome tourists.  The fact that I speak passable Spanish makes things seem even smoother.

           But I must keep reminding myself that I really don’t know very much about what’s going on here.  I’m skating on the surface. The weather is great, the people pleasant and the water drinkable. Cities like Barcelona, Madrid and Seville all appear prosperous and calm.  But that’s superficial, broken infrequently by reminders like the campaigners for and against Catalan independence we met in Barcelona. The anti-separatists were helpful enough to have printed English-language brochures explaining their position.

            The tourists I encounter when I’m in New York aren’t fixed by what’s happening in the Trump White House, although some see posing in front of the Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. as a selfie must.  And those of us visiting Spain see scant evidence of the political tensions we’ve read about.

                        The fact that many people seem to be eating and dressing well seems inconsistent with what we know of this country’s high unemployment rate (currently down to about 15%), and political tensions internally and within the broader EU.  We’ve talked with a few shop clerks who came from provicinicial downs, but it isn’t clear whether their migration reflects a lack of economic opportunity back home or the inevitable charm of the bright lights in the big city (for historic perspective, check out the Netflix series Cable Girls).

                        And there was a revealing moment in talking with a clerk who sold me a spiffy new blazer as she acknowledged that she’d only come to Spain six months ago from Venezuela, where the political and economic problems are much more serious than they are here.

                        My taste in travel tends to focus more on today’s culture than yesterday’s, even while acknowledging that the two are linked.  There’s an excavation in Barcelona directly behind the hotel we stayed in that features centuries-old religious venues that were used as shelters from the bombs of the Spanish civil war.  How quickly, fortunately, people seem to forget as we’ve found in prior visits to South America where the violence came centuries later.

             But the operative word in that phrase is “seems.”   Those of us who lack deep ties to the culture can’t begin to know what’s really going on.   So I constantly remind myself that things may not be as peaceful and comfortable as they seem and check my habit of making inferences, which is imperfect even in the American culture where I belong.

Guernica

There is probably nothing one can say about Picasso's Guernica which we saw at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.  The most eloquent anti war painting ever done.  This has been on my list of things to see in my life and I don't know why it's taken so long to get here.  But I'm grateful that I did.  The museum also has other wonderful cubist and other art.  It's just that they pale before this magnificent work.

Random Thought on Leaving Barcelona

There was an air of gaiety this day.  Not unusual for Barcelona which always seems to be in a party mood.  In the square in front of the old Cathedral in the central city people were also handing out free hugs and there were plenty of couples, families and singles mingling and having a great time.

At the waterfront the 57 meter tall statue of Columbus dominates all as he points toward the sea to recall his voyages of exploration.  So far few people here want to tear this monument down unlike the people in the US who want to tear down Columbus Circle in New York as well as other places.

Parc Guell Barcelona

The bus wound up and up from the old city of Barcelona.  The streets were clogged and smelled of diesel, gasoline fumes and cigarette smoke from the ubiquitous Spanish smokers, The air was choking but as we climbed the sky emerged bluer and cleaner.  Finally we arrived at Parc Guell the former estate of the very wealthy Guell family.   Early in the twentieth century in one of those wonderful confluences of art and commerce the fabulously wealthy Guell family commissioned Antoni Gaudi, architect and visionary artist to build a fantasyland of gardens, structures, fountains, vaults and other fanciful constructs.  Visiting it is a little like going through the looking glass with Alice after she ate the magic mushrooms.  Gaudi obviously thought that too much was not enough.  He layered tile on stone on sculpture.  The park is built on very hilly terrain so one is always slightly off balance like being in a fun hall house of mirrors.  The park was jammed with tourists, locals, couples, families, a bride and groom posing for pictures, musicians and vendors hawking everything from Guadi reproductions to Adidas sneakers.  We were exhausted when we left but it was well worth going.

Exploring Barcelona

Most of the day was spent wandering through back streets and alleys like the one above.   We did check out the beach and a flea market. We also found a great bookstore that has books in many languages, mostly Spanish but also English, French and others.    The air here is redolent of the smells of chorizo cooking, tangerines and pungent spices.  We walked past a recently excavated dig which unearthed graves dating back to Roman times as well as the Spanish Civil War.  To be reminded of the many layers of civilization is part of the reason I find travel so much fun and so educational.  To speculate about the various stories and people who walked here in past centuries is fun.  It is challenging to make up stories of the people who might have been here before us.  Explorers, traders, craftspeople, religious of various kinds from idol worshipers to monotheists of various kinds.  The imagination runs wild here.

Arriving in Barcelona

We made it to beautiful Barcelona.  Jim shot the picture of the view from our hotel and he also found a wonderful little tapas bar, Elisabeta where we had a great meal and wine.  

Leaving NYC for Barcelona

OK.  We were scheduled to leave NYC and there was a major snowstorm brewing.  We were getting text messages from the airline that the flight would be cancelled.  The day we were scheduled to leave it started snowing at 9 am.  We were scheduled to leave about midnight.  A whole day to stew about whether we whether our flight would leave or we would have to reschedule in some way which could delay the trip by several days to a week.  When the going get tough the tough go to the art galleries.  I walked across Central Park to the Met Breuer and spent several hours contemplating the art there these.  This picture by Leon Golub stuck a note with me.  The skull, the bleeding heart and the snarling dog spoke to the way I was feeling.  Were things going to disintegrate into chaos or work themselves out.  Despite the turmoil looking at the art was calming as it usually is.  I left the museum feeling calm and as if things would work out as indeed they did.  Although we had to wade through a lot of slush to get ot the subway we made it to Penn station.  Although many New Jersey transit trains were cancelled one made it to Newark Airport and miraculsly our plane took off on time.  We had a good flight and landed in Barcelona early to palm trees and blue skies.